C# path to certain parent directory

Question

Is there a short way to get certain parent directory path from current path.

I have a path like this:

"c:\\users\\userName\\documents\\visual studio 2013\\Projects\\SolutionName\\ProjectName\\bin\\Debug"

and i want to get the path to 'SolutionName' directory, like this

"c:\\users\\userName\\documents\\visual studio 2013\\Projects\\SolutionName"

I need it because i am storing some data in folder

"c:\\users\\userName\\documents\\visual studio 2013\\Projects\\SolutionName\\DataFolder"

and i need to access it from different projects in my solution.

Thank you all, there is what i finished with

public static string GetParent( string parentName,string FileName)
    {
        var dir = new DirectoryInfo(System.IO.Directory.GetCurrentDirectory());

        while (dir.Parent.Name != parentName)
        {
            dir = dir.Parent;
        }
        return dir.Parent.FullName+"\\Data\\"+FileName;
    }

I accepted Callum Bradbury answer because i just changed it not to be recursive.

If you're just trying to access the folder (and not displaying the path), you can simply append ".." to the full path: "c:\\users\\userName\\documents\\visual studio 2013\\Projects\\SolutionName\\DataFolder\\..\\" — Kevin Gosse, Apr 17 '15 at 09:27

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 17 '15 at 09:50

5

You can use the DirectoryInfo class to do this relatively easily with a little iterative function.

    public string GetParent(string path, string parentName)
    {
        var dir = new DirectoryInfo(path);

        if (dir.Parent == null)
        {
            return null;
        }

        if (dir.Parent.Name == parentName)
        {
            return dir.Parent.FullName;
        }

        return this.GetParent(dir.Parent.FullName, parentName);
    }

answered Apr 17 '15 at 09:50

Callum Bradbury

936
7
14

Thank you, this is what i was looking for, but i changed it so it won't be recursive. – Alex Tertyshnyk Apr 18 '15 at 21:31
With your changes if the parentName isn't a parent directory of the current directory, you'll get a null reference exception. Whether that's an issue or not is up to you though. Glad I could help – Callum Bradbury Apr 19 '15 at 10:06

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

1

if you want a clean solution follow this steps

in every project of your solution try to change your Build Output Path
you have to make all your paths relative something like this
```
 "..\\datafolder\File.txt"
```

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

1
1

answered Apr 17 '15 at 09:34

BRAHIM Kamel

13,492
1
36
47

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 17 '15 at 10:03

what you are looking for is:

var curd = Environment.CurrentDirectory; 
// this will give you current directory for eg: if you are in "Debug" mode then "c:\users\userName\documents\visual studio 2013\Projects\SolutionName\ProjectName\bin\Debug" and if you are in "Release" mode then "c:\users\userName\documents\visual studio 2013\Projects\SolutionName\ProjectName\bin\Release"

now what you want is your path name until SolutionName folder which is 3 level up, so all you got to do is append to the above line @"\..\..\..\"

i.e.

var curd = Environment.CurrentDirectory + @"\..\..\..\";

and you are done.

Key the number of level you want to go up from current directory the same number of @"\..\" you need to append.

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

0

Here are a few solutions :

string dataFolder = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() + "..\\..\\..\\DataFolder"

string dataFolder = Path.GetDirectoryName(Path.GetDirectoryName(System.IO.Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())) + "\\DataFolder";

You can also see this link for the best approach to find your current path, it seems like GetCurrentDirectory might not be the best solution : get path for my .exe

edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

Community

1
1

answered Apr 17 '15 at 09:41

JP Tétreault

600
5
15

I must access same folder from different projects which can be in different folders but all will be placed inside "SolutionFolder", but they can be on different levels. – Alex Tertyshnyk Apr 17 '15 at 10:59

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 17 '15 at 10:14

Create a reg key with path you need

Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey key;
key = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey("Names");
key.SetValue("Name", "Isabella");
key.Close();

When created, you can use RegistryKey class under Microsoft.Win32 namespace

C# path to certain parent directory

5 Answers5